How Jayden Maiava remained ready to seize the USC quarterback job

The competition was close. Closer than anyone expected it to be in late August, at least. Close enough that Jayden Maiava, the insurgent transfer from Nevada Las Vegas, believed at the time that he’d done enough to be named USC’s starting quarterback.

The job ultimately went to Miller Moss, the redshirt junior whose six-score coronation had come months earlier at the Holiday Bowl. Maiava had understood in that case the uphill battle he faced in coming to L.A. But the decision, while no surprise to the public, was no less disappointing to Maiava.

He was competitive. He thought he’d made the best of his reps. Now there was no way of knowing when they’d come again.

“Most backups at that moment would get frustrated with the process,” said Ryan Porter, Maiava’s quarterbacks coach. “They wouldn’t be as dedicated or proactive. They lose focus.”

But nearly three months later, Porter looks back on that lost quarterback competition as if it’s the best thing that could have happened to Maiava, who this week was named the Trojans’ new starter.

“This kid got to go in, do spring football, do the first nine games and learn,” Porter said. “Learn from all the mistakes that were made, learn from all the success that was had, learn the good and the bad. He got to sit back and learn a system from a great coaching staff and a great quarterback room, and you can’t ask for a better situation, in my opinion.”

Maiava agrees: “It’s been phenomenal for me,” he said Wednesday, “just learning a lot from the game.”

That’s not to say sitting for most of the season, while USC lost four of its last five, was easy.

He hit the ground running a year ago at UNLV, passing for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushing for 277 yards and three more touchdowns. Before that, he’d started all four years at three different high schools in Hawaii and Las Vegas.

One year at UNLV had, more than anything, taught him there was only so much he could control, and that lesson would prove especially valuable as he waited his turn at USC.

As the newly appointed No. 2 quarterback, Maiava tried to let go of what he couldn’t control and “fall in love with the process,” he said. He stayed away from social media. He never brought up Lincoln Riley’s plans or complained about his place as backup, even as Moss struggled to find his stride during the past month. Nor did Maiava ever mention transferring somewhere else with a smoother path to playing time.

“You’re either the cure or you’re the cancer, you know?” Maiava said. “All I try and do is be the cure for the team.”

That was a telling approach to Porter, who for many years coached Heisman winner and current Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. He’d seen too many quarterbacks concerned with speeding the process along.

“That’s how I knew Jayden [Maiava] had a chance to be very, very special,” he said. “What I’ve found in my experience is that the good ones don’t get caught up in whether they agree with a coach’s decision or play calling or personnel.”

When he and Porter would talk, whether on FaceTime or Zoom or over text, Porter would always try to lead with reassurance, keeping his confidence up. “Your time is coming,” he’d tell him.

But Porter never heard more than a fleeting moment of frustration from his pupil. It just wasn’t in his nature to dwell on anything. Quiet and humble, Maiava didn’t even like discussing how many reps he got in practice versus Moss.

“Never once did I hear any negativity in his voice,” Porter said. “Like, never, ever.”

“Most young kids come in like, ‘I should be the guy! Man, this is the polar opposite of that kid. Coming in, and you’re basically watching someone kiss your girlfriend right now. But I told him, ‘Bud, you’re going to be able to lean on this experience. You’re going to be able to embrace this adversity, and this is going to make you the quarterback you’re supposed to be, when you play on Sundays.”

The experience paid dividends in other ways, too. Maiava was “super raw,” Porter admits, when he arrived at USC. To that point, in his football career, he’d relied almost entirely on his instincts and improvisational ability. There was another layer of the position he still had to learn. Plus, he needed time to absorb Riley’s offense.

But the time gave him a chance to dive deeper into learning protections and other finer points of the position. He tried to glean as much as he could from observation, taking special cues from Moss — “a very genius quarterback” — and his “decision-making on the field.”

That progress wasn’t lost on Riley, who said he’s seen a steady climb from Maiava ever since.

“It’s not easy being the backup,” Riley said, “and I felt like he’s handled that well. He’s improved every single week.”

Then this week, after Monday’s film review, Riley pulled Maiava into his office to tell him he was making a change at quarterback. The coach later explained, simply, that he felt it was “in the best interest of the team to give Jayden a chance here.”

Moving away from Moss did mean altering the fragile emotional balance of the locker room. He was a vocal leader on the team, something that didn’t necessarily come as naturally to the more reserved Maiava.

But players assured on Wednesday that little had changed. In the two days since his promotion, though, Maiava has tried to speak up more often, doing what he can to rise to the occasion.

“I think everybody has got their own way of leading,” Maiava said. “Everybody has got their own way of carrying themselves.”

Few, though, have the physical skills that Maiava will bring to the position, when he takes the field against Nebraska on Nov. 16.

Woody Marks, USC’s lead running back, raved about Maiava’s “cannon arm,” while tight end Lake McRee noted that Maiava can “throw the ball all over.” And while Riley insisted this week that USC’s offense won’t change much with him at the helm, it’s difficult to imagine those physical skills not being a featured part of the Trojans game plan next weekend.

“How do you argue with 6-5, 230?” Porter asked. “That’s a problem, man.”

And now, with its season quickly slipping away, USC is hoping Maiava can be the solution it so desperately needs. Though, he knows now there’s only so much of that he can control.

“I’m here just for one thing, and that’s just to win games,” Maiava said. “The best thing I could do for this team is just to put them in the best situation to go win games. I’ma lay my life on the line for them.

“So hopefully they do the same.”